Awards & Prizes

Academic Award

Industry Award

for professionals in the security industry

2017 AwardWinners

Industry Award

Whitney Merrill

Federal Trade Commission

More about Whitney

Whitney Merrill is an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. She received her master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she explored issues associated with the intersection of technology, information security, privacy, and the law. During her time at UIUC, she was an Illinois Cyber Security Scholar and member of the Illinois Security Lab. Whitney also runs the Crypto & Privacy Village, which appears at DEF CON & other conferences each year.

Academic Award

Katelyn Coberley

More about Katelyn

Katelyn's pursuit of her B.S. in Information Assurance at Eastern Michigan University sparked a passion for cybersecurity and encouraging involvement in the field. Throughout her time at Eastern, she co-founded a Women in IA student group and led multiple sessions of the Digital Divas program for hundreds of young high school and middle school girls exploring STEM careers. She graduated magna cum laude in December 2016.

2016 AwardWinners

Industry Award

Scotland Symons

Senior Security Architect,Microsoft

More about Scotland

At Microsoft, Scotland brings her skills of Security Architecture and Design to the company’s new products and services. She created secure applications and processes in Windows, Xbox, and the back end architecture of Microsoft's online presence. Scotland was also a chair director for Microsoft's Diversity driving LGBTQ policy both inside and outside of the company.

Academic Award

Jennifer Granick

More about Jennifer

Jennifer studies, writes, and practices in the areas of computer crime and security, electronic surveillance, consumer privacy, data protection, and free speech. In addition to being known as an academic and policy professional of the highest caliber, she has also remained incredibly connected to the practicing privacy and information security communities.

2015 AwardWinners

Industry Award

Parisa Tabriz

Chrome Security Manager,Google

More about Parisa

Parisa received her B.S. and M.S. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and was advised by Nikita Borisov. She manages Google's information security engineering team at Google, which is responsible for improving Google's product security.

Academic Award

Rachel Sitarz

Graduate Assistant,Purdue University

More about Rachel

Rachel is a PhD student at Purdue University, studying Cyber Forensics in the College of Technology. She currently works at Purdue University as an IT Security Analyst where she builds analytical and intelligence products for security threats and concerns to Purdue University.

2017 Judges

Scotland Symons, Senior Security Architect / Manager, Microsoft

Parisa Tabriz, Princess of Security, Google

Rachel Sitarz, CEO, Cyber Inform

Wendy Nather, Principal Security Strategist, Duo Security

Dug Song, CEO, Duo Security

Jon Oberheide, CTO, Duo Security

Nominations are Now Closed

Nominations are open to the public. Nominees are then narrowed to a pool of finalists by judges who are leaders in security. Winners will be notified in November 2016 and publicly announced at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, February 13 - 17, 2017